


Sun and Moon and Stars

by FireEye



Category: Moon Hunters
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-23 03:19:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18541225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: The Council between the Sun and the Moon meet to celebrate a celestial event.





	Sun and Moon and Stars

Ninsi’anna raised her head high.  A lion walked at her side, a symbol of strength and grace, and of the Four-Faced Goddess’s blessing, as she made her way through the crowd that parted before her.  The cat that rode upon her shoulders watched sidelines of the procession with dull interest.

In the scant few years since the wars, the Sun Cult had grown and flourished.  Some left the Tribes, flowing into their numbers; some left the cult, returning home or finding a new place among the Tribes.

In the shadow of the Sun Disk, Sargon awaited her coming.  He folded his hands in greeting; Ninsi’anna did likewise.

He led her into the blessed coolness of the shrine, and knelt to remove her sandals.

“You’re late,” he informed her.

“The Sun and the Moon will become one in five days,” Ninsi’anna replied.  “I would call that early enough.”

“Every one of the council has arrived.”  Folding his hands in his lap, Sargon looked up at her.  He smiled wryly.  “Miletus was asking after you.”

“I see.”

Sargon stood, brushing his hands off one another.  Leaning off the wall, Ninsi’anna pushed her helmet off,  letting it rest over her shoulders as her fingers worked the ribbons holding it in place.

“My brother... would also like to have words with you.”

The motion of Ninsi’anna’s fingers slowed.  “I see.”

“In private.”

Eyebrows raised, she blinked.

“Please don’t extract revenge on him.”  Sargon’s smile twitched.  “Or... if you must, be gentle about it, would you?”

“Of course,” the witch replied with a smile of her own.  “How foolish would it be to allow ourselves to be drawn into another war, while we’re still recovering from the last.”

He led her deeper into the shrine.  The Sun Cult’s masons had made an art of the building, with winding hallways and grand halls.  Suns and moons were carved into the brick itself, invoking the blessings of the heavens.

Sargon silently bid her to wait outside one hall in particular.  He entered briefly, and returned.  Folding his hands, he then gestured to the door.

The room was splendidly opulent.  Windows had been cut to allow visions of the sky, and statuettes were set into a small shrine.  Moon opals and fire opals spilled over the jars that contained them.  A table in the center was piled with maps and etchings and tablets and flimsy reed fabrications of carved stone.  A bed in the corner was piled high with soft furs.

This was the King’s Hall.

The lion paced towards the bed, helping himself to a rest after a long day’s walk.

Mardokh himself stood at the window overlooking the sand garden below, watching the sun’s glow disappear from the sky.

Ninsi’anna pressed her tongue to her lip, biting back her own amusement.  Sargon had no doubt told him of her presence; she wondered if the _brooding king_ look was entirely for her benefit, or if Mardokh merely needed to look impressive for his own.

She let herself believe it was some combination of the two.

Folding her hands in greeting, she played her own part.

“King Mardokh,” she intoned.  “Your esteemed brother told me you wished to share words.”

Mardokh turned to look at her, and his regal bearing was not lost on her.  He was the leader of his own; he did nothing to hide it..

And the man who had led a cult into becoming an army seemed to have lost his voice.

“Yes,” he said simply.  “I... wanted to share something with you.”

“I see.”

“Something of a... wild ambition I’ve had... for years now.”

Ninsi’anna’s smile faded.

“I believe I – and the rest of Issaria – are well acquainted with your wild ambitions,” she reminded him plainly.

“Quite so.”  Mardokh didn’t so much as flinch.  “At the time, I did not believe there was any place in my ambitions for the Moon Tribes.”

He stepped closer.  She held her ground.  In his eyes, she read no regret – but acceptance of his sins, and a strong conviction.  And something more, something softer lurking behind the sternness his eyes.

“We have grown past that, have we not?”

“One should hope.”

“And you?” he asked.  “Do you _hope_?”

Ninsi’anna smiled.  “Only when I am bereft of faith.”

Shaking his head, Mardokh turned and gestured her to follow.  But he shared her smile, however faintly.

He led her to the table, and its wealth of knowledge.

The cat on Ninsi’anna’s shoulders jumped down to investigate for herself.  Mardokh’s gaze fell upon her as she stepped in front of him.  Meeting his eyes contentedly, she began to clean a forepaw.  He tried to shoo her off the paper unrolled beneath her, to no avail.

Taking pity on him Ninsi’anna gathered the cat and set her on the floor.  She jumped up again, this time curling her tail over her feet at the edge of the ambition Mardokh was smoothing over the table.  Silently, he met Ninsi’anna’s eyes letting his fingers linger on the paper, before moving to one side to allow her to see for herself.

Her eyes narrowed as she took in the writing.  The maps.  The schematics.  The diagrams.

“And this is...?”

Mardokh smiled deeply.  “My ambition.”

Ninsi’anna nodded slowly.

“It certainly is that.”

~*~

As the Moon approached the Sun, the Council met for a feast in the Room That Was Open to The Stars.  Miletus saw her first, and waved Ninsi’anna to come sit by him.  His eyes were bright, tracing the grace in her step as she came to sit by him.

The lion dropped gracefully down beside them.  The cat that rode Ninsi’anna’s shoulders jumped down and padded over to Miletus’ lap.  Miletus’ free hand found her back absently as she kneaded his thigh.

“And have you yet charmed the sun and the moon from the eyes our gracious host?” Miletus asked.

He offered Ninsi’anna his goblet of the Dustfolk’s honey wine, and she took it graciously.  “Not yet, I think.  Though a seed may have been planted in his heart.  Who knows what will grow?”

Miletus hummed thoughtfully.

“Perhaps I should give it a try.”

Ninsi’anna laughed.

“Perhaps.”

She offered him back the goblet.  Her eyes sparkled at his expression.

“It’s been too long.  What news of the High Tribes?”

And as the hour wore on, they traded tales, and quips, and compliments.

And fell silent, as the shadow fell upon them.

In the sky, the Moon eclipsed the Sun.

Together and in balance.

**Author's Note:**

> Moon Hunters! \o/
> 
> I... really love this game I should write more fic.


End file.
